


Burning Red

by BlueAlmond



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Summer of 1899, Young Albus Dumbledore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:34:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22323412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueAlmond/pseuds/BlueAlmond
Summary: But loving him was red.Oh, red.Burning red.How appropriate.
Relationships: Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald
Comments: 10
Kudos: 31





	Burning Red

**Author's Note:**

> Why did I write this? I should be studying!

In the Wizarding World, most people are born with a black mark on their wrist. The few who aren’t often get one later in life, although it is uncommon for anyone to reach the age of ten without it.

It is believed that the black mark is a person’s link to their soulmate. Historians have never found when or where the belief originated, but it’s been many centuries since anyone questioned it. When two soulmates touch, their marks —or _soul_ marks— turn the same colour, as if their magic has somewhat aligned.

When one of them dies, the mark in the other vanishes.

There are records of people getting a new mark back until the early seventeen hundreds’, but ever since most people claiming such a thing have been debunked, and most historians agree that people in the past must have been lying as well. Today, researchers believe that a person only gets one soulmate in their lifetime — and those who believe in reincarnation affirm that’s one soulmate for all eternity.

Elphias Doge spent most of his first year at Hogwarts trying to find his soulmate in one of his classmates; by the time he graduated he hadn’t yet found it, but after the disappointment of them not being Albus, he was never too upset by his wrist remaining black each time he shook a stranger’s hand. When he travels the world at age eighteen — _alone_ — he isn’t looking for them anymore, and almost doesn’t notice it when his mark turns green in Egypt after another tourist sits by his side on the bus and their hands brush by accident.

He extends his trip after that, but he doesn’t see much of Egypt. He memorizes his hotel room, though.

He wants to tell the whole world about it, but mostly his parents and Albus. He wants to share his happiness with them, because he doesn’t think he’s ever been happier. However, when he tries to include the occurrence in his letters, he finds he can’t. He just doesn’t know how to put it into words adequately — it’s either too casual, or too much of a big deal, which is fine in the one he sends his parents, but not in the one he’s composing for his best friend, who not only hasn’t found his soulmate yet, but also has never been particularly interested in them. So he ends up writing a different letter and he doesn’t mention it at all, figuring he’ll let the colour speak by itself the next time he sees him.

And thus, when he returns to England, he meets Albus for lunch the very next day. He’s practically bouncing in his seat as he waits, but the minute he sees his friend, his stomach sinks.

A leather bracelet is covering Albus’s right wrist, where his soulmark ought to be.

“Albus?” Elphias asks, immensely curious by the new accessory. He knows it can only mean two things, and one would only make him happier, but some instinct he never realized he had is oppressing his chest with the conviction that is the other.

“It’s my soulmark,” he admits with a sheepish smile. “It vanished over the summer.”

The horror and sincere sadness on Elphias’ face is no surprise to Albus, but he still feels a pang of guilt at the sight. He figures he should start getting used to it. But the proud display of green on his best friend’s wrist only makes his confession worse.

“But tell me about your trip,” he says, giving his best reassuring smile, “I want to hear all about it.”

It takes some awkward minutes, but eventually Elphias goes back to his usual self, and Albus can almost pretend like the last summer never happened on his part. He’s never liked lying to Elphias, but he’s in no way unexperienced. Lies have been a part of his life since he was ten. And he knows that they make things easier. Anyone who says that lies only make things worse doesn’t know what they’re saying, or they simply have never been through the kind of disaster and tragedy that likes to follow Albus around like the moon chases the earth.

He may not like lying to Elphias, but their very public lunch date is the perfect reason to finally step outside — which he hasn’t in a while. And it is the first time he does it with the leather bracelet that he’s been wearing ever since late August.

It’s perfect, because news travel fast, and he knows that soon enough no one will want to address the subject around him. Because everyone pities those who lose their soulmates, especially the young ones, and if they never got to meet them? How tragic. Way too painful to discuss lightly.

They’ll never know that Albus’s mark is still there, beneath the thick bracelet. They can’t.

They can’t find out that the mark has turned red. That would simply raise too many questions that Albus is not ready to answer. Maybe he never will be.

Just like he can’t tell if he’s ever going to be able to look at his naked wrist without wanting to cry, with a hundred of different memories —with different sounds, different sights, and different textures— crowding the back of his mind, begging for his attention.

So far, Ariana’s screams and Gellert’s eyes always win. And he figures it is quite appropriate that those are the kind of things that the colour red reminds him of.

**Author's Note:**

> Did I break your heart?
> 
> I don't think I've listened to Red by Taylor Swift in years, but I'll go do that now and cry a little.
> 
> Because that's better than studying ;)


End file.
